Published on Oct 3, 2012
Skyrim's lack of DLC on PS3 isn't just about Dawnguard but all future content, according to Bethesda's Pete Hines.
Hines hasn't confirmed if the PS3 is to recieve DLC for Skyrim and in fact, his latest statement implys it will be a while before PS3 players will see Skyrim's additional content.
"This is not a "Dawnguard" issue. This is a DLC on PS3 issue. It affected DG because it was the first one."
Hines' statement clears up some confusion surrounding Skyrim's DLC on PS3. Speaking on Twitter, Hines acknowledged the frustration PS3 fans have felt regarding the delay and also addmitted that work was still being done but could not confirm when the DLC would arrive on PS3.
"DG is obviously not the only DLC we’ve been working on either, so the issues of adding content get even more complicated."
Hines confirmed that Bethesda will work on the issues until it's exhausted all options, but there is no end date in mind.
"Until we exhaust all the options. There's no date in mind for that."

I thought the game was pretty good and after they patched that low framerate bug after your save file reached 12mb or whatever, it was a lot better. However, this doesn't surprise me coming from Bethesda since they are a company that loves dishing out excuses for even the PC version of the game.

I believe when Bethesda made their engine, they didn't really make it with the PS3 in mind, they polished and tweaked it around the Xbox360 mainly. Even the PC version is "consolized". There are two major companies that I will never pre-order a game from again and those two companies are..

I honestly don't care about this anymore at this point. I'm passed the break up phase. I cried my tears. Tore all the pictures with me and Skyrim. Got over the fact that it was never going to call me back. I've moved on now.

$20 says this will still be an issue when they release their next game if it comes PS3 (be it Fallout 4 or something else). Issues weren't ironed out between Oblivion and Fallout 3, nor Fallout 3 and New Vegas (I know it was another studio), so my hopes of these issues being ironed out between Skyrim and a hypothetical Fallout 4 are very little. So this isn't a Skyrim DLC problem, but I'm sure it will be a Bethesda-developed PS3 games problem.

I honestly don't care about this anymore at this point. I'm passed the break up phase. I cried my tears. Tore all the pictures with me and Skyrim. Got over the fact that it was never going to call me back. I've moved on now.

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This.

The game is close to a year old now. Does anybody actually still care?

This is why it sucks that exclusive games arent as frequent as they used to be. A game developed specifically for 1 platform to work perfectly within the bounds of that system and take full advantage of its features.. what a wonderful thing. Like god of war3 or mgs4 or uncharted 3, they look and run alot different than skyrim, mass effect, dragon age, etc.

I predict this is going to continue during the next generation. Microsoft is going to make their xbox720 as much like a (weak) gaming PC as they can for cheaper costs and easy ports, and Sony is going to come up with something powerful, expensive, and wacked-out strange that makes it difficult to shoe-horn a PC game into it.

I'm over Skyrim, I own it on PC so this doesn't affect me but I'm not buying the DLC cause I just don't care about the game anymore. The DLC seems like more of the same so it doesn't re-interest me in the game like some other content might.

I think the reason why they are having so many problems for the PS3 is because their engine....while the PS3 can run it, their engine isn't optimized for the PS3 and it's pretty clear that it's not considering all the problems they are having.

This is why it sucks that exclusive games arent as frequent as they used to be. A game developed specifically for 1 platform to work perfectly within the bounds of that system and take full advantage of its features.. what a wonderful thing. Like god of war3 or mgs4 or uncharted 3, they look and run alot different than skyrim, mass effect, dragon age, etc.

I predict this is going to continue during the next generation. Microsoft is going to make their xbox720 as much like a (weak) gaming PC as they can for cheaper costs and easy ports, and Sony is going to come up with something powerful, expensive, and wacked-out strange that makes it difficult to shoe-horn a PC game into it.

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It's pretty obvious that the PS4 will more then likely favor Sony and their MMO games such as Everquest III, Planetside 2, or any other MMORPG or MMOFPS game. Planetside 2 looks absolutely fantastic and will bet that, that game will be running full bore on the PS4. if you want to know what direction the PS4 is going, look at planetside 2. From what I understand Sony is going to aim their system more towards PC development rather than alien technologies.

You have to remember that they are cleaning up what Stringer made a mess of.

Lol. So he basically says his team sucks at making games for ps3 after how many years with it? Microsoft doesn't even need to pay them next time for a timed DLC.

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the thing is they are not making a PS3 game, they are porting it over from 360 and are having problems with it. I believe if they tried making a PS3 version they wouldnt have all these problems, this is on them. But you guys just go ahead and keep putting $$$$$$$ in their pockets.

This is why it sucks that exclusive games arent as frequent as they used to be. A game developed specifically for 1 platform to work perfectly within the bounds of that system and take full advantage of its features.. what a wonderful thing. Like god of war3 or mgs4 or uncharted 3, they look and run alot different than skyrim, mass effect, dragon age, etc.

I predict this is going to continue during the next generation. Microsoft is going to make their xbox720 as much like a (weak) gaming PC as they can for cheaper costs and easy ports, and Sony is going to come up with something powerful, expensive, and wacked-out strange that makes it difficult to shoe-horn a PC game into it.

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That's not going to happen.

Sony has been taking developer input from the design level of their new console.

I'm over Skyrim, I own it on PC so this doesn't affect me but I'm not buying the DLC cause I just don't care about the game anymore. The DLC seems like more of the same so it doesn't re-interest me in the game like some other content might.

I'm over Skyrim, I own it on PC so this doesn't affect me but I'm not buying the DLC cause I just don't care about the game anymore. The DLC seems like more of the same so it doesn't re-interest me in the game like some other content might.

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What other developers are running Gamebryo/Creation...?

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Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

I'm over Skyrim, I own it on PC so this doesn't affect me but I'm not buying the DLC cause I just don't care about the game anymore. The DLC seems like more of the same so it doesn't re-interest me in the game like some other content might.

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What other developers are running Gamebryo/Creation...?

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Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

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!!!

Now you're getting it.

They aren't incompetent developers, they just made a major miscalculation when creating (And upgrading) their engine due largely in part to Sony creating exotic architecture.

Unique developer with unique engine designed for generic platforms ports it to unique system and experiences *Gasp!*...unique problems...

I'm over Skyrim, I own it on PC so this doesn't affect me but I'm not buying the DLC cause I just don't care about the game anymore. The DLC seems like more of the same so it doesn't re-interest me in the game like some other content might.

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What other developers are running Gamebryo/Creation...?

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Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

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I dont believe that, if they made an engine knowing it wont work on a system that they will make a game for, its a crime, they need to be sued for that. I believe they are having problems because the game is ported over. How unproffesional would that be of them????

Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

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I dont believe that, if they made an engine knowing it wont work on a system that they will make a game for, its a crime, they need to be sued for that. I believe they are having problems because the game is ported over. How unproffesional would that be of them????

Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

Click to expand...

I dont believe that, if they made an engine knowing it wont work on a system that they will make a game for, its a crime, they need to be sued for that. I believe they are having problems because the game is ported over. How unproffesional would that be of them????

Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

Click to expand...

I dont believe that, if they made an engine knowing it wont work on a system that they will make a game for, its a crime, they need to be sued for that. I believe they are having problems because the game is ported over. How unproffesional would that be of them????

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They are having problems because the Skyrim engine isn't Optimized for the PS3. Hell, it isn't even Optimized for the PC either, this engine was made strictly for the Xbox360, they basically catered this engine for the 360. Bethesda has been very "wishy washy" this gen. They really need to get their stuff together.

Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

Click to expand...

!!!

Now you're getting it.

They aren't incompetent developers, they just made a major miscalculation when creating (And upgrading) their engine due largely in part to Sony creating exotic architecture.

Unique developer with unique engine designed for generic platforms ports it to unique system and experiences *Gasp!*...unique problems...

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I'm not even going to try to blame the PS3 being too hard to do. They're game developers. It's their job to make stuff work. Hundreds of developers out there are doing it. They were so infatuated with 11/11/11 that they had to ship a broken product.

Not like Dawnguard was worth buying anyway. I'd rather play some mods over that DLC, truthfully. But it did add new code to the game so I can play with some modding myself! Crossbows!! Oh yea!

This is probably one of the many reason PC gaming is on the rise again. People are tired of getting shafted. At least on PC, it's not a closed platform and you can fix your own problems and make it available to the public. It's a tight knit community. Example, Skyrim at launch didn't recognize past 2GBs RAM. You had to make the game recognize it yourself. Eventually, they patched this but I didn't have to wait 3 months for them to do it. I did it myself.

And once again, this thread makes assumptions on game development they have zero knowledge about.

Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

Click to expand...

I dont believe that, if they made an engine knowing it wont work on a system that they will make a game for, its a crime, they need to be sued for that. I believe they are having problems because the game is ported over. How unproffesional would that be of them????

Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

Click to expand...

!!!

Now you're getting it.

They aren't incompetent developers, they just made a major miscalculation when creating (And upgrading) their engine due largely in part to Sony creating exotic architecture.

Unique developer with unique engine designed for generic platforms ports it to unique system and experiences *Gasp!*...unique problems...

Click to expand...

I'm not even going to try to blame the PS3 being too hard to do. They're game developers. It's their job to make stuff work. Hundreds of developers out there are doing it. They were so infatuated with 11/11/11 that they had to ship a broken product.

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Unique developer + unique engine + unique platform = unique problems.

Other developers are not Bethesda and Bethesda are not other developers. I hope your statement doesn't carry over into other aspects of life like raising children. So if one kid does a difficult problem correctly, there's no excuse for the other to do it poorly? One of those kids is going to grow up with some issues.

Were the problem so easy to solve, it would have been, but it obviously isn't.

What other developer is making games as large and dynamic as Bethesda?

I believe the saying goes, "With games of this size and this amount of freedom, fixing a problem can unfix something else."

If the PS3 wasn't difficult to program for, swaths of developers wouldn't have proclaimed how difficult it was to program for...for years...

It is rather ridiculous to complain about the system being too hard to program for 6 years after it came out...

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Why...?

EDIT: The Higgs Boson was predicted in 1964, so is the worldwide scientific community ridiculous for only now discovering traces of it over 45 years later? We've had electricity since the 1800's or earlier and we've had cars for over 100, so is the auto industry ridiculous for taking so long to make electric cars? We've had cover systems since last gen, so are developers ridiculous for only beginning to implement it this generation...?

Well they made the engine, so it is a problem of their own making... they designed an engine that doesn't run well on PS3 knowing they are going to use it to make PS3 games...

Click to expand...

I dont believe that, if they made an engine knowing it wont work on a system that they will make a game for, its a crime, they need to be sued for that. I believe they are having problems because the game is ported over. How unproffesional would that be of them????

Click to expand...

They are having problems because the Skyrim engine isn't Optimized for the PS3. Hell, it isn't even Optimized for the PC either, this engine was made strictly for the Xbox360, they basically catered this engine for the 360. Bethesda has been very "wishy washy" this gen. They really need to get their stuff together.

I dont believe that, if they made an engine knowing it wont work on a system that they will make a game for, its a crime, they need to be sued for that. I believe they are having problems because the game is ported over. How unproffesional would that be of them????

Click to expand...

They are having problems because the Skyrim engine isn't Optimized for the PS3. Hell, it isn't even Optimized for the PC either, this engine was made strictly for the Xbox360, they basically catered this engine for the 360. Bethesda has been very "wishy washy" this gen. They really need to get their stuff together.

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so if they made it on PS3 they would need a complete new engine?

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He doesn't know that for sure but it's probably a reasonable assumption. Bethesda has to design an engine for three different platforms. You're going to have compromise somewhere. It's not designed for one unique architecture.

Sony should shoulder much of the blame though. If they weren't so arrogant with their design on PS3, maybe these problems wouldn't be popping up? Nobody seems to ever complain about 360 development and they're usually the superior version of the games technically. Fix your damn console to be more dev friendly and less people will bitch about it Sony...

no, they just need to tweak the engine more for the PS3. You are dealing with 3 platforms here, you have the PC, Xbox360, and PS3, there is no way the engine is going to cater to all the platforms without tweaking it. When they made oblivion on the PS3, even though it was a year later it was a bit better looking then 360 because they actually took the time. I am not doing a console Vs. Console, even though that is what it looks like. What I am doing is showing what you get when you tweak an engine for it to ALSO work on "said console".

no, they just need to tweak the engine more for the PS3. You are dealing with 3 platforms here, you have the PC, Xbox360, and PS3, there is no way the engine is going to cater to all the platforms without tweaking it. When they made oblivion on the PS3, even though it was a year later it was a bit better looking then 360 because they actually took the time. I am not doing a console Vs. Console, even though that is what it looks like. What I am doing is showing what you get when you tweak an engine for it to ALSO work on "said console".

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I agree, plenty of games use same engines across systems but developers take their time with making the game. So the game isnt exactly the same, sometimes they look better. Like BF3 for example. Same engine but they made tweakes hear and there to make it look a bit better on PS3 and on PC its even better than that. they didnt just port the game over to where its 100% identical across all 3 platforms. Im sure if they took their time with Skyrim it would of worked out for them.

Your kid analogy doesn't really hold water because kids will have unique talents and abilities that vary greatly. Game developers have specifically been educated in this very specific skill, it is what they are paid to do. I wouldn't expect a doctor to be able to solve complex game problems, but I would expect a game developer to do so. A kid may not be good at math and thus have difficulties with math, but may be good with literature. Game developers should be good at game developing.

I disagree that Sony should take the blame, Bethesda is the only dev who is having a problem this severe to the point that they can't even get their content into sellable shape. Sony should take blame for making a complex system, but the fact that everyone else has adapted to it and made it work is evidence that Beth. should be blamed for their software not working right.

Bottom line - Bethesda screwed up, probably can't be fixed or they would have done so by now (assuming it is the nature of their game engine, making it nearly impossible to fix). Hopefully they learn from their mistakes. You can blame Sony for the PS3 architecture, but Bethesda knew of the architecture when designing the engine.

Bottom line - Bethesda screwed up, probably can't be fixed or they would have done so by now (assuming it is the nature of their game engine, making it nearly impossible to fix). Hopefully they learn from their mistakes. You can blame Sony for the PS3 architecture, but Bethesda knew of the architecture when designing the engine.

I appreciate you posting this, but just wanted to underline that Bethesda did say this already, and in fact was more plain and straitforward with it. When Hearthfire was announced, they basically said 'we dont know if any DLC at all is ever going to be on PS3, due to huge issues. so there is no tentative release confirmed for any of it, and none of it may make it to ps3 at all."

Second, i add a 'ditto' to what Jest said. I let it chill for a month, and have just picked it up, yet again, a couple months ago. Its likely that this Thanksgiving, i'll be drinking Belgian Overproof Meade, out of Viking Challice, eating giant mutton legs, while i play skyrim, just as i was last thanksgiving. I have been playing it since it debuted last year. Thats over 150 hours so far, over a year of solid gaming. That's alot of value, no matter how you look at it.
So while i am quite disapointed in the their QA process and build quality (wouldnt be the first fkn time, THATs for sure)...i could give a honeynut treat if i ever play the dlc. Do i want dawnguard and especially hearthfire? HELLS YEAH I DO. but it aint the end of the dang world lol.

Do i wish EA lent some more QA to Bethesda this go round, and that Bethesda didnt release buggy games, in general (particularly on this engine with these huge openworld games)? Of course i do.

Do i still enjoy skyrim? Yes. Unless i go in the water. Which will yes...freeze my game. Which sucks.
But still. 150 hrs. And counting. Seriously.

no, they just need to tweak the engine more for the PS3. You are dealing with 3 platforms here, you have the PC, Xbox360, and PS3, there is no way the engine is going to cater to all the platforms without tweaking it. When they made oblivion on the PS3, even though it was a year later it was a bit better looking then 360 because they actually took the time. I am not doing a console Vs. Console, even though that is what it looks like. What I am doing is showing what you get when you tweak an engine for it to ALSO work on "said console".

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I agree, plenty of games use same engines across systems but developers take their time with making the game. So the game isnt exactly the same, sometimes they look better. Like BF3 for example. Same engine but they made tweakes hear and there to make it look a bit better on PS3 and on PC its even better than that. they didnt just port the game over to where its 100% identical across all 3 platforms. Im sure if they took their time with Skyrim it would of worked out for them.

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Yet, none of those games hold the intricate design Skyrim has. Skyrim is arguably larger than any game on the market except MMOs. When you have that much code in your game, it's near impossible to QA everything.

Can Bethesda do a better job cleaning that up? Absolutely. Personally, I don't like their design philosophy of piling endless content on you without fully polishing it. This is something I really enjoy from Naughty Dog games. They give you very clean and polished games. IMO, Bethesda should focus their content better, make smaller worlds, and then polish it to prevent issues like this. You can still make a massive world. You don't have to be 5x bigger than the second biggest game on the market...

Their philosophy makes even less sense considering their resources are stretched over multiple platforms. This is where I think their management is bad. They are nicknamed Bugthesda for a reason. But honestly, their QA gets better with every game. Skyrim is their least buggiest game in my experience. I ran into no major bugs in Skyrim. Ever. Oblivion, I ran into two game-breaking bugs. The only bugs I remember in Skyrim was one quest wouldn't complete(I forced dialogue to fix it myself) and a couple hardware bugs like the RAM issue I mentioned. Which was very minor and a 5 minute fix for me.

But Sony could do more to make the end user experience better too. They both shoulder blame. It shouldn't just be Bethesda.